


Limping Over Dead Leaves

by deLioncourts



Category: Golden Child (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Guns, M/M, that's pretty much it you've seen the mv
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:02:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29363694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deLioncourts/pseuds/deLioncourts
Summary: When Joochan turns twenty three, the whole world falls apart...
Relationships: Hong Joochan/Son Youngtaek | TAG
Comments: 15
Kudos: 37





	Limping Over Dead Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> hiiiiii. so this is basically just a little drabble based on the new mv because i could not get the cinematics out of my head. i've liked this group for ages but i've never though about writing them before and i definitely enjoyed it. how much i'll actually write them in the future remains to be seen but never say never.
> 
> no real warnings apply it's pretty much what's in the mv and if you haven't seen it just the mention of a gun and some zombie atmosphere.

Joochan knows as soon as he sees blood what this means. And yet he’s undeterred, wiping at the grime on Youngtaek’s leg with purpose and an old rag he’d found in the sink. But when his fingers meet skin, the indentation of teeth gnarled in flesh almost down to the bone, Youngtaek stops him.

“It’s too late,” he whispers, hollow, with a hand on Joochan’s wrist.

“It’s not,” Joochan snaps, tearing a loose piece of fabric from his shirt to wrap around Youngtaek’s shin. His voice shakes almost as bad as his hands do. “It can’t be.”

They’re safe, for now. The distant rumbling of the undead banging against the deteriorating walls that surround them far enough away that they can take a second to rest. Tracking sound and spatial awareness have become like an extension of Joochan’s senses by now, fine tuned from months of struggling through the rapidly growing wasteland of the world that once was theirs.

Joochan scans the room for anything that might be useful. Nothing but cans of processed foods litter the metal shelves. They must be holed up in some kind of old restaurant. He’d seen the expanse of the kitchen as he’d dragged a limping Youngtaek through the halls when the windows smashed and the doors had been broken down. 

The old hand radio crackles beside him. It’s the only sound it makes anymore, days passing since they’d lost contact with Daeyeol and the others. But still he holds it close, praying to any god that will listen that at least one of them is still out there.

Youngtaek groans and leans back against the wall. Joochan follows the movement to wipe at the thin sheen of sweat coating his forehead, skin already running hot with fever. The panic starts to crawl up Joochan’s spine, like a hundred ravenous spiders making him itch and taste bile on the tip of his tongue, but he tries to tamp it down as best he can. A film reel of time plays behind his eyes as he shuts them, only for a brief moment of calm, taking Youngtaek’s hand in his.

  
  
Joochan’s life truly begins when he’s fourteen years old. He’s bloodied and defeated from a fight he hadn’t meant to start. It’s Youngtaek who finds him and pulls him off the bathroom floor. He’s all limbs and bright features as he helps Joochan clean his face, promising him his new school isn’t all that bad.

He’s seventeen when he sees Youngtaek kiss his girlfriend at the cherry blossom festival. He feels an ugly knot in his stomach that makes him so nauseous he abandons his half-eaten lunch and develops an underlying hatred for pastel skirts and the color pink.

They’re backpacking through Europe at nineteen when Joochan finally confesses; 200ft in the air and attached to a bungee cord that’s the only thing stopping them from careening into the ground. He’s shaking like a leaf and he’s thrown up twice before they even get in the lift. Youngtaek holds him against his chest and whispers-

 _“Don’t worry, I’m here. You jump, I jump, alright?”_

Joochan screams the entire way down, clinging onto Youngtaek like a lifeline, and when it’s all over he tells him he’s in love. Later that night, when Youngtaek whispers the words back against his lips, pressing him into the tiny bed in the dark of their hostel room a world away from home, Joochan feels like he can finally breathe.

When Joochan turns twenty three, the whole world falls apart. From the rumblings of a strange viral outbreak, the comfort of the life he’s always known gets ripped out from under his feet faster than anyone could have expected. It takes less than half a year to watch everything he loves wither and crumble like dry leaves at the changing of the season. But Youngtaek stays by his side, and together they learn to survive; breaking themselves down and building a new resilience to navigate the dying landscape around them.

Youngtaek has always been his anchor, strong in so many ways Joochan took for granted. Now it’s his turn to repay him. 

  
  
  


“They’re close,” Youngtaek states, pulling Joochan from his thoughts and motioning towards the door. The rotted groaning of corpses grows louder beyond the concrete, the clattering of debris like a flashbang in Joochan’s ears. They don’t have much time. 

Youngtaek reaches into his jacket, searching for something at his waist. Joochan’s gut drops at the sight of metal glinting off the overhanging light. Youngtaek presses the gun into Joochan’s hands and he feels the fissures start to crack and spread, a wildfire lapping at the last remaining threads of his resolve.

“I can’t,” Joochan shakes his head. He pushes back but Youngtaek is resolute, molding Joochan’s trembling fingers around the base of the gun and lifting the barrel to his forehead.

“You have to.” Youngtaek breathes, a watery sound. “We promised. You have to get out and find the others. I’ll just slow you down.” 

Youngtaek’s eyes are pleading, but still his own, despite the black poison slowly shading his veins. His grip is warm against Joochan’s wrist, a deep contrast to the pallid color of his skin, and Joochan’s heart shatters. He knew it would come to this eventually. They had talked about an endgame since the beginning, planning for the inevitable between themselves and between the entire group of survivors in the little clan they had built over time. But Joochan had hoped, in the back of his mind in the smallest place where hope could even still grow, that it wouldn’t ever come to this.

Maybe it was selfish, the part of himself that thought he would be the one to go first. But he couldn’t survive in a world without Youngtaek. He’s certain without a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn’t want to.

For the first time in almost a year, Joochan cries. The gun drops to his side as the wall finally topples and he lets it fall; lets the tremors wrack through his body, heaving sobs that have him struggling to breathe.

Youngtaek pitches forward, taking him in his arms and running soothing circles against his back until the worst of it subsides. He whispers every word of comfort and adoration he has left into the soft column of Joochan’s neck, his own tears mixing with the flood of sorrow from the only boy he’s ever loved.

A loud strike hits the door, the clamoring and shuffling of bodies finally reaching their momentary sanctuary. Joochan stands first, wiping at his eyes and picking up the gun from the floor before hoisting Youngtaek to his feet. There’s only one way out.

“I love you.” Joochan says, meaning it just as much now as the first time he’d said it, all those years ago. 

Youngtaek reaches to cradle Joochan’s face in his hands and kisses him one last time.

“I love you too. I always have.” 

“You jump, I jump right?” 

Youngtaek smiles. 

With the determination of a man with nothing left to lose, Joochan turns just as the door is torn from its hinges. He raises the gun at the first corpse when it enters the room, aiming for the head, and fires.

**Author's Note:**

> i know this fandom especially in the ficdom is incredibly small and this is pretty niche but i hope you liked it. any comment or kudos would be appreciated.
> 
> i honestly don't know any goldeness so if you found this and you're 18+, feel free to follow me on [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/asaphyunjin)


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